Quickwave: An Impulse Algorithm to Calculate Preliminary Design Shear and Moment Envelopes for Compliant Towers

Abstract

A novel, simple method to calculate compliant tower (CT) level shear and moment envelopes for preliminary design has been developed, and verified by comparing with rigorous 3-D tower analyses. The approach relies on a vast experience base to define important features influencing the dynamic response of CTs, and a new closed-form solution for the acceleration (needed to construct design envelopes) of the tower caused by an impulsive-type wave load. The main benefits of the approach are: 1) the designer can iterate and quickly converge on a working preliminary design without resorting to time-consuming computer analyses; 2) the designer can quickly evaluate configurations for different water depths, pile arrangements, payload, steel grade, reserve buoyancy, and well counts.